July 17, 2018

Battle Is Coming!

Even as Azeroth’s wounds are tended, the shattered trust between the Alliance and Horde now proves hardest to mend. Amidst this age-old conflict, join your allies and champion your faction’s cause.

New Events in Teldrassil and Lordaeron

Beginning the week of July 24 and continuing for three weeks leading to the launch of Battle for Azeroth on August 14, experience the escalation of all-out war in Teldrassil, and later Lordaeron. A new chapter of the relentless conflict at the heart of the Warcraft saga is unfolding, and it’s time for you to take your place on the front lines!

New Character Customizations

The war with the Burning Legion has left orcs standing tall, a new posture option available to all orc player characters. Blood Elves now have access to golden eyes, as well as a few new faces.

All of these new options are available at Barber Shops throughout Azeroth, and you can now alter your character’s skin color while you’re there.

Player versus Player

The PvP Honor and Prestige system has been updated. Your PvP progress in Legion has been converted into account-wide Honor levels, which you’ll continue to earn through PvP.

All class specializations’ PvP Talents have been revamped. Hit default hotkey ‘N’ to get a look at your PvP Talents, and default hotkey ‘H’ to see the new PvP system.

War Mode is Here

You can now enable War Mode and venture out into a world full of others who have made the same dangerous choice. Enabling War Mode provides additional bonuses:

All PvP Talents you’ve chosen will be available to use anywhere PvP can occur.

You’ll gain an additional bonus to experience while leveling up.

Earn additional bonus gold and Resources from World Quests.

War Mode can be toggled on or off beginning at level 20 by visiting either Orgrimmar or Stormwind and setting your preference in the Talent pane (default hotkey ‘N’). Beware! Once you venture out in War Mode, all zones will become contested, including zones such as Northshire Abbey.

Sanctuary areas will still be PvP free.

Additional War Mode features such as Bounty Hunter and Air Drops will become available in the new zones of Battle for Azeroth.

July 17, 2018 marks the end of the final Legion season of ranked PvP, and the post-season period has begun. Look for all the new PvP progression and rewards to unlock and become earnable after the launch of Battle for Azeroth in a few weeks.

Strand of the Ancients and Ashran are no longer available.

Social Features

You can now create and join cross-realm social groups in World of Warcraft. Communities make it easier for you to find and play alongside adventurers who share common interests. Hit default hotkey ‘J’ to get started.

Voice Chat is now available in all groups, Guilds, and Communities. Select the headset icon wherever you see it in game to talk with other players.

Legacy Loot Mode

Now, when you enter an instance at 11 levels or more above the maximum level of the content, Legacy Loot rules will be automatically enabled. Under Legacy Loot rules, drops will include a chance for all items that would drop for a full party or raid at the instance’s level.

Classes

Sargeras’ cruel, final blow dramatically impacted both Azeroth and all of its denizens. The power of every Artifact weapon has now been depleted. Some powers from Artifacts have now been incorporated into their specializations. Your characters that are just getting started in Legion content will still seek out and acquire Artifacts.

Statistics

In an effort to make displayed numbers more perceptible, values used for player and enemy statistics have been reduced throughout the game. This includes values such as item-level, damage, armor, health, and defense measurements.

A number of spells and talents now again activate a global cooldown when used.

Hidden Blades – Every 2 seconds, gain increased damage for your next Fan of Knives, stacking up to 20 times.

Poison Bomb – Envenom and Rupture have a chance per combo point spent to smash a vial of poison at the target's location, creating a pool of acidic death that deals Nature damage over time to all enemies within it.

Outlaw

Saber Slash is now Sinister Strike.

Run Through is now Dispatch.

Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.

New Talents include:

Blade Rush – Charge to your target with your blades out, dealing great damage to the target and all other nearby enemies. While Blade Flurry is active, damage to nearby enemies is increased. Generates Energy.

Flash Flood – When you consume Tidal Waves, the cast time of your next heal is reduced by 20%.

Earth Shield – Protects the target with an earthen shield, increasing your healing on them and healing them when they take damage.

Warlock

All specs now know Shadowfury – Stuns all nearby enemies.

Warlock Healthstones no longer share cooldowns with potions.

Affliction

Affliction Warlocks now know Summon Darkglare – A Darkglare from the Twisting Nether that extends your damage-over-time effects on all enemies, blasts its target for Shadow damage, and is empowered by every damage-over-time effect you have active on any target.